Avoid Closing-day Glitches

Your real estate lawyer has called and scheduled your home mortgage closing date. What will happen at the closing and how can you avoid any shocks or surprises? There have been many milestones thus far in the purchase of your new home. You have had many appointments with your real estate agent, invested huge blocks of time reviewing many homes and asked many questions about each home. You have finally picked a home, researched a qualified home inspector and prepared and participated in the home inspection. You read and re-read the home inspection report more times than your favorite book. You applied for a mortgage, supplied numerous documents and finally the culmination of all these activities is finally here. Here are some tips for you to walk away from your home mortgage closing day without any surprises or stress. Instead, just enjoy holding the new keys to your dream home. 

Schedule an appointment with your real estate attorney and have him review the real estate contract, settlement, truth-in-lending statement and review the mortgage. Your attorney should verify that the seller has made all repairs and that he will bring the deed to the real estate closing. Your attorney is your advocate and he should be passing on information to keep you in the loop. To ensure that you will be ready for your closing day, be organized and proactive in questioning your attorney for an easy, positive, no-glitch day.  

Your closing day will require your active participation. What kind of items will you be signing? You will be signing your name and the assurance to repay the loan numerous times. You will be signing mortgage papers with the lending bank, affidavits that you intend to occupy the residence and possession of the new deed.

The mortgage papers are the most numerous to be signed as they must be initialed in multiple places and have copies of the original signature available for all interested parties to the loan. A mortgage is a document that legally secures the note or promise to pay the mortgage bank or lender by the mortgage borrower. The mortgage gives the lender a legal claim against your home if you do not pay or violate the terms of the mortgage. The mortgage document is very detailed, with information on who is purchasing, lien holders, dates of payment, rates of interest, and special conditions. The mortgage will clearly state the home owners' obligations for home owners' insurance and property taxes. This amount of detail benefits both the mortgage lender and the home owner. 

Closing costs can amount to a small fortune. All of these costs were outlined to you during the mortgage application process. Loan origination, mortgage loan, mortgage points and credit report fees are all closing costs to be paid at the closing. In addition, you may need to pre-pay interest for a partial month depending on the date you closed and when the first payment is due to lender. Title insurance is one of the more expensive fees and is required by all lenders to insure there are no liens against the deed. Finally, the last charge to pay to the lender is the fee for recording of the deed, which may include a real estate transfer tax. 

Your home is probably the most expensive purchase you will encounter in your life time. You have invested invaluable time, effort and lots of money towards the purchase of your home. Planning on a successful closing mortgage day should hopefully be a reflection of all your organized efforts. Sometimes issues do come up at closings. However, with a plan to have your attorney review most the major documents in the acquisition of your home before the closing day, and the sellers confirmation of completed repairs as required by the real estate contract, you should be in for a smooth mortgage closing. Enjoy the new keys to your home.